Matcha consumption is soaring in Australia and around the world, and prices are about to follow.

The spring harvest of tencha tea in Japan (where matcha comes from) wrapped up in May and at this year's first tea auction in Kyoto, tencha prices reached a record high of 87 dollars a kilogram.

• Guest: Erin Lindwall, founder of Matcha Yu Tea in Melbourne
• Producer: Rob Kelly

The Reserve Bank wants to end debit and credit card surcharges — but some small business owners are concerned that, if implemented, they may end up covering the difference.

They say the move risks prices increasing across the board.

• Guest: Matthew Addison, Chair, Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA). 
• Producers: Oscar Coleman and Grace Stranger

People with disability make up more than a fifth of Australia's population.

And yet people with disability are significantly under-represented in leadership positions, on boards, in politics and various other roles.

It's an issue Graeme Innes thinks about often…if organisations aren't reflective of the community…how can they make decisions on their behalf?

Guest: Dr Graeme Innes, former Disability Discrimination Commissioner, founder Attitude Foundation, company director.

The nation's low productivity — and how to improve it — is a major priority for the returned Albanese Government's second term.

Ahead of the Treasurer's upcoming economic reform roundtable, former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry says reforming the nation's "broken environmental laws" is an obvious lever to lift productivity and enhance resilience

• Guest: Ken Henry, former Treasury Secretary, now Chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation
• Producers: Teodora Agarici and Lexie Jeuniewic

Australia's former Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic, has shared his views on special envoy Jillian Segal's plan to combat antisemitism, along with the upcoming plan from special envoy Aftab Malik to combat Islamophobia. 

Mr Husic, who was one of the country's first two Muslim federal ministers sworn into office, says both plans need to focus on "what brings us together." 

• Guest: Ed Husic, Labor MP and former Minister for Industry and Science 
• Producers: Teodora Agarici and Lexie Jeuniewic

Under a New South Wales state government plan, architect-designed drawings for new homes are being offered up for just a gold coin for the first six months, before increasing to $1,000 dollars.

The low-rise designs have been released as part of a New South Wales Housing Pattern Book, which the government says will speed up the delivery of new homes.

Guest: Paul Scully, NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces

Producer: Lexie Jeuniewic

Regulations around cannabis have come a long way in Australia, with medicinal cannabis now legal in every jurisdiction, and recreational use decriminalised in the ACT.

In a recent NSW upper house inquiry, six of the seven committee members backed the decriminalisation of cannabis use and possession, and ultimately a move towards a regulated, legalised cannabis market.

But if Australian states are to head down this road, what is best practice? And what are the lessons to be learned from the US, Canada Europe, and Thailand? 

• Guest: John Ryan, CEO, Penington Institute

Australia's need for data centres is growing exponentially as artificial intelligence advances and more critical systems like banking and healthcare go digital.

But these large, power-hungry warehouses are causing planning and environmental headaches across the world. 

As multinational corporations pledge billions to establish centres on Australian soil, concerns are growing over the nation's data sovereignty.

• Guest: Toby Walsh, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of New South Wales
• Producer: Grace Stranger

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR ) is reporting a growing crisis at the border of Iran and Afghanistan, with almost one and a half million Afghans having left Iran and Pakistan this year to return to their homeland. 

The UNHCR says the number of Afghans crossing the border has intensified since mid-June, with tens of thousands of people crossing the border in a single day. 

Guest: Arafat Jamal, UNHCR country representative in Afghanistan 

Producer: Anne Barker

Ukraine is hoping to intercept more Russian missiles headed for its cities after US President Donald Trump confirmed he would transfer more Patriot battery systems to Kyiv.

The president promised the weapons would arrive within days,  responding to a long-term request from Ukraine to help bolster its defences. 

Under the plan, the United States will be reimbursed for the cost of the weapons by the European Union.

But some analysts have warned the intervention will do little to halt Russia's ongoing summer offensive.

• Guest: Colby Badhwar, Security assistance analyst with Tochnyi
• Producer: Max Chalmers